


In the Dark, In the Rain

by maplemarcher



Series: In the Dark, In the Rain [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Story Mode
Genre: Animal Death, Arguing, Axel Is An Asshole, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Injuries, but they're both good boys, genderfluid Jesse, not Reuben Axel just kills a couple chickens, season 1 episode 1, so is Lukas tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 15:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18166820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maplemarcher/pseuds/maplemarcher
Summary: When Lukas leaves the shelter and it starts to rain, Axel's sent on a mission to find him. In the dark. In the rain. Surrounded by monsters in the middle of nowhere.What could go wrong?





	In the Dark, In the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe there's only one other fic for these two out there (as of right now). Well *cracks knuckles* time to fix that!!

     Axel doesn’t hate Lukas.

     Axel hates how Lukas thinks he’s the only one in the world who knows how to build. He hates that he thinks he can just make himself the leader. He hates Lukas’ stupid friends. He hates that Lukas still even  _ calls  _ them his friends. He hates the stupid leather jackets they wear that are actually really cool, and he hates that he thinks that they’re cool. He hates that Lukas is actually a really nice guy underneath all the arrogance. More than anything though, Axel hates how inferior he feels around Lukas.

     Talking about his feelings has never been his strong suit. That’s Jesse’s thing—they’re always ready with an inspirational speech, comforting words, or just a shoulder to lean on. Axel, on the other hand? He gets defensive and angry and actively pushes people away. The only reason Jesse and Olivia are still around is because they know him. They know that while he may be an asshole, he’s an asshole who loves his friends more than anything.

     Which is why he’d gotten so pissed when Lukas froze instead of helping Petra. Which is why he’d antagonized him so much. Which is why he, Olivia, Jesse, and Reuben are sitting in the dirt hut, staring at the fire without Lukas. Olivia is visibly irritated. Jesse looks guilty. Reuben is looking at the door and snorting with concern. Axel is stewing in a mixture of satisfaction that Lukas is gone and guilt for driving him away.

     “I hope you’re proud of yourself,” Olivia grumbles.

     Axel immediately goes on the defensive. “Hey, he was being an asshole. He can’t boss us around like that.  _ And  _ he’s the reason Petra’s not here.”

     “He was just trying to help,” Jesse says. They sigh and flick a pebble into the fire. “And it wasn’t entirely his fault. I should have been able to help Petra  _ and  _ Gabriel. I wasn’t quick enough.” Reuben plops his head in their lap and nuzzles at their stomach.

     “Lukas should have helped you,” Axel says. He hates it when Jesse’s sad. They’re never sad.

     “Will you give it a rest?” Olivia sighs. “Lukas left. You got what you wanted.”

     “Alright, alright, jeez,” Axel mumbles.

     The silence falls back over them. Axel hugs his knees close to his chest. He thought he’d feel better once Lukas left, but this is just making everything worse. Olivia’s mad at him and Jesse’s sulking. The idea of going and looking for him briefly crosses his mind, but he pushes that thought away. No way is he going to admit he’s wrong, especially after the huge fuss he’d made. Lukas, frustrating or not, is resourceful. He’ll be fine on his own. He knows how to build. Making a tower or a hut or something should be no problem for him.

     As he’s thinking, thunder rolls overhead. He can hear rain hitting the dirt roof.

     “This is ridiculous,” Jesse says. They turn their gaze towards Axel. “You need to go find him.”

     “What? Me? Why?” Axel says indignantly.

     “It makes sense to me,” Olivia chimes in with a shrug. “You were the one who kept pushing his buttons.”

     “Come on guys, he’ll be fine,” Axel says, trying to keep desperation out of his voice. He cannot deal with a confrontation with Lukas right now. Alone. In the dark. In the rain. Surrounded by angry mobs.

     “Fine or not, you were being a dick,” Jesse snaps, and oh  _ man,  _ this sucks. “We’re all on the same team now. You two need to work your shit out. And I think going and bringing him back will be a good start, don’t you?”

     Axel looks between two of his only friends in the world and sighs. There’s no way he can argue with both of them. He doesn’t want to anyway. “Fine. I’ll go. He probably needs someone to deal with the monsters anyway.” He stands up and heads for the door.

     “Stay safe, okay?” Jesse says. It’s the same thing they said to Lukas just before he left, and something about that rubs Axel the wrong way.

     “Yeah,” he grumbles. He puts up the hood on his jacket and glares out at the rain. Stupid rain.

     “Wait, here,” Jesse says. They take the sword off of their back and hold it out to him. “You’ll probably need this.”

     “Nah, I’ll be fine,” Axel says, pushing their hands away. “Besides, you might need it.”

     “We’ll be inside all night,” Olivia says. “Just take it. We want you to come back.”

     “Yeah,” Jesse agrees with a small smile. “And if it gets too dangerous for you to come back here tonight, don’t worry about it. We can meet up again in the morning.”

     “...Thanks,” Axel says after a long moment of silence. He takes the sword from Jesse’s hands. “You guys stay safe, okay?”

     “We’ll be okay,” Olivia assures him. Reuben gives his leg an affectionate head bump, and Axel scratches behind his ears with a smile. He bids a final goodbye to Olivia and Jesse and heads into the night.

     Axel regrets agreeing to this almost immediately. The rain is  _ freezing,  _ and there’s a lot of it _.  _ It seeps through his clothes within minutes, leaving him shivering and soaked to the bone. Shaking his sopping bangs out of his eyes so much is actually starting to make him dizzy. At least there won’t be any endermen out tonight because of the rain. Zombies, creepers, spiders, and skeletons, however, don’t care about it at all. He’s reminded of this by an arrow sinking into his bicep. He cries out more in surprise than pain, or so he tells himself, and scans the area for the source of the arrows. There’s a skeleton on a small hill to his right, already knocking another arrow.

     “Hey, bone breath! Bet you can’t hit a moving target!”

     Axel ducks down to avoid the next projectile just in time. It whizzes past his head and nails the trunk of a nearby tree. As much as he’d like to teach that skeleton who’s boss, he’s inexperienced with a sword. It wouldn’t be much use against a bow and arrows anyway. So Axel opts for turning on his heel and booking it, making sure to move in a zig-zag so he’s harder to hit. He’s out of breath when the skeleton finally gives up.

     “Lukas, when I find you, I’m going to kick your ass,” he growls to himself.

     Axel wrenches the arrow out of his arm with a grimace before moving on. There aren’t any signs of Lukas anywhere. He groans. He’s freezing and wet and starving. He just wants to go to sleep and stop bleeding. In addition to the puncture wound in his bicep, he’s managed to acquire a cut from a zombie wielding a sword and a bite from a creeper he’d managed to pick up and throw before it exploded. He can’t even remember which way the hut is.

     Just as he’s about to climb up a tree and call it a night, Axel spots an abnormally uniform hole in the ground. It’s only a few feet deep. Lukas must have dug up some dirt to make another hut. There are faint footprints in the mud. Axel follows them to a tiny, mismatched shelter. It’s obviously been made in a hurry. There’s dirt, wood, and...gravel? No matter what it’s made of, there’s a flickering light coming from inside. Axel hurries toward the entrance. On the way, he encounters a couple chickens. Briefly.

     “Lukas?” Axel calls as he approaches the door. “You in there?” There’s a brief pause, some shuffling, and then the door opens.

     “Axel?” Yep, that’s Lukas alright. “What are  _ you  _ doing here?”

     “Looking for you,” Axel says. He holds up the two chickens. “And I brought dinner.”

     Lukas stares for a moment before shaking his head and gesturing for Axel to come in. Axel hastily obliges. He’s relieved to be out of the rain. It’s already warmer in the hut. Lukas takes the chickens from him, and Axel sets Jesse’s sword against the wall next to the door. He notices Lukas’ Ocelots jacket folded up like a makeshift pillow on the floor. There are a couple thick wood logs sitting around the fire. Lukas sits on one of them and starts plucking the chickens.

     “You built this pretty fast,” Axel says as he looks around the hut.

     “I kind of had to,” Lukas replies with a shrug. “It was the best I could do, given the circumstances.” Axel thinks he sees him plucking the feathers with a little more force than before, but he doesn’t mention it. He just takes the other chicken and gets to work.

     Neither of them says a word. It’s  _ unbearably  _ awkward. They pluck the chickens, and Axel cleans them up with a small knife in his pocket while Lukas carves a spit to put them on. 

     Axel’s never actually seen him craft like this up close. Sure, there was the building competition and the hut earlier, but building like that isn’t nearly as intricate. The spit Lukas is carving isn’t complicated by any means, but it’s obvious he’s taking care. His hands look strong. Not strong in the way Axel’s are, with his thick fingers that can crush glass bottles like they’re nothing. Lukas’ fingers are long and slender, but not fragile; the way he’s controlling the blade through long, slow strokes makes that obvious. Axel would have fumbled with the knife by now and ended up nicking his thumb. He does just that as he stares at Lukas’ hands.

     “Son of a bitch,” he mutters, wiping his thumb on his pants.

     “You okay?” Lukas asks. His voice and posture are still stiff and guarded. Then again, so are Axel’s.

     “Yeah, just cut my thumb,” Axel says. “I didn’t get any of my blood on the chicken, don’t worry.”

     “That’s good,” Lukas says. He looks back down at his work.

     It’s still raining when Axel opens the door to dispose of the not-so-edible parts of the chickens. The wind makes the water sting when it hits his skin, and he feels even colder than before. Axel dumps the entrails into a bush, wipes his hands on his pants, and scurries back inside where Lukas is putting the meat on his freshly carved spit.

     “Cold out there, huh?” Lukas says.

     “No kidding,” Axel says, his teeth chattering. “I’m glad we didn’t build a treehouse earlier.” He has to get out of his jacket. It’s soaked and heavy and uncomfortable.

     “Are Jesse and Olivia okay?” Axel can’t see Lukas’ face since he’s tugging his jacket over his head, but he thinks he sounds a little desperate. “They aren’t out right now too, are they?”

     “No, they’re back at the hut,” Axel says. “I’m the only one who went out.” The t-shirt he’s been wearing underneath his outer layer comes off too, but he can’t bring himself to care much. He thinks he feels Lukas’ eyes on him, but when he looks, he’s busying himself with their food.

     “That’s good,” Lukas sighs. He turns the spit over. “Jesse make you come look for me?”

     “They both did, really,” Axel says.

     “I’m, uh,  surprised you listened,” Lukas says. He glances over at Axel to gauge his reaction.

     “I’m not gonna argue with my two best friends when they’re already mad at me.” Axel doesn’t want to admit that he’s felt guilty. It’s none of Lukas’ business.

     “That’s fair.”

     The chicken smells amazing. They don’t have any spices, but Axel doesn’t care. He’s starving. When the meat looks like it’s done, Lukas attempts to snap the spit in half so that they have something to hold it with. It doesn’t work. Axel watches him try it a few times before offering to help. There’s nothing wrong with a little free entertainment now and then.

     “Here, let me do it,” he says. He takes the spit from Lukas and halves it with one motion. The way Lukas’ eyebrows raise and his eyes widen makes him feel a twinge of satisfaction.

     “Uh, thanks,” Lukas says as he takes his share. They dig in, and Lukas lets out a small groan of satisfaction. Axel silently agrees with him. The chicken is hot and juicy and  _ god  _ he’d been starving. It doesn’t take them long to pick the bones clean.

     “Holy shit, I was starving,” Lukas sighs, wiping his greasy fingers on his jeans. He looks at Axel with a genuine smile, albeit a small one. “Thanks.”

     “Yeah, whatever,” Axel says, feeling like he’s fumbling for words. “I was hungry too.” He can see Lukas deflate out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t say anything. Guilt pricks at him, but he pushes it away. It’s just what he does. There’s another long silence before Lukas speaks again.

     “It looks like you didn’t treat those injuries,” he says, gesturing to the various wounds Axel had acquired while trying to find him.

     “I was kind of busy,” Axel replies. “Besides that, I don’t really have anything to bandage myself with.”

     “Uh, I do,” Lukas says. “I got some string from a few spiders and I managed to weave it into some bandages.”

     “Of course you do,” Axel grumbles, crossing his arms.

     “What’s your problem with me, man?” Lukas demands, standing up suddenly. “You get pissed at me no matter what I do!”

     “You wanna know what my problem is?” Axel growls. He stands up, more slowly than Lukas did, towering over him.

     “Yeah, that’s what I said,” Lukas says. “Go ahead! Lay it on me!”

     “You wanna know what my  _ problem  _ is?” Axel repeats, jabbing his pointer finger into the center of Lukas’ chest. “My problem is how you think you’re so much  _ better  _ than everybody else. You think you can just  _ waltz  _ on in and start bossing us around, just because you and your band of  _ shitheads  _ win the EnderCon building competition every year.”

     “I  _ don’t  _ think I’m better than anybody else! I’m just trying to help!”

     “Oh yeah, like you helped Petra—”

_      “Don’t  _ bring her into this, I care about her just as much as you—”

     “Yeah! Yeah, I know you do! I know, okay?! I  _ know  _ that you care about her, I  _ know  _ that you care about our friends, I  _ know  _ you just want to help, I  _ know  _ that you’re not a total dick like I’ve always convinced myself you are!” Axel’s shaking. He’s—is he angry? He doesn’t know.

     “Then  _ why the fuck are you acting like this?” _

     “I’m afraid of you replacing me!”

     Lukas is stunned speechless by that. Axel glares at him for a minute longer, breathing heavily, before turning away and wiping at his face. The fire crackles, and it’s the only sound in the room. The already tiny hut feels claustrophobic. If it weren’t for the icy rain and the monsters outside, Axel would have already left. He can tell Lukas is trying to think of what to say. If they don’t talk for the rest of the night, Axel won’t mind. He’s reeling a little himself.

     Instead of words, he receives a gentle hand on his arm that makes him jump. He looks down and meets Lukas’ gaze. The expression in his eyes is unreadable. Intense eye contact has never been Axel’s favorite, so he looks at the wall instead. Lukas’ hand is so warm it feels like it’s burning.

     “Do you want to get patched up?” Lukas’ voice is much softer than it had been a few minutes ago. Axel swallows and nods, pushing down emotions that he doesn’t understand and doesn’t  _ want _ to understand right now.

     “Yeah. But uh, I don’t really know how to do it that well myself.”

     “Don’t worry about it.”

     Axel sits down on one of the logs, and Lukas rummages around in his pockets for the bandages. There isn’t a lot of them, and they aren’t very tightly woven, but they’ll do. He slowly starts to wrap some around the arrow wound in Axel’s arm. It’s the deepest one, and the only one that’s still bleeding.

     “God, your arms are huge,” he murmurs, seemingly to himself.

     “Yeah, I know,” Axel mumbles. He’s never been a big fan of people pointing out his size.

     “Oh, not like—not like that,” Lukas stutters. “I just meant that you have, uh…”

     “Big muscles?” Axel offers. Lukas mumbles an agreement, his face a little red. It’s cute.  Axel smirks and flexes both his arms. “Gotta be strong if your default mode is ‘punch’, right?”

     “Hold still! You’re messing me up!” Lukas says. He’d reddened even more as soon as Axel had started showing off. Axel chuckles to himself and relaxes his arms once more, letting Lukas finish. The bandage is tied off in a neat little knot.

     “Thanks,” Axel says. He has to admit that not having a trickle of blood running down his arm is pretty nice.

     “No problem,” Lukas says.

     He sits down next to Axel, who tenses. He knows something’s coming. He doesn’t know what it is, he has a feeling it’s not going to be a very fun conversation topic. Lukas is still clearly trying to think of what to say. His eyebrows are knitted together, and one of his legs is bouncing at he fixes the ground with a focused stare. Axel can’t take it.

     “So, uh, about what I said earlier,” he begins.

     “I could never replace you,” Lukas says. He’s looking at Axel now.

     “Yeah, you could.” Axel runs one hand through his hair. It’s still damp at the roots. “You’re better than me at pretty much everything. You’re even a better friend than I am.”

     “I don’t think that’s true,” Lukas says. “I mean, I think I’m a good friend, but I don’t think I’m better than you.” He sighs. “I abandoned the rest of the Ocelots. I should have tried to find them when the Wither Storm hit, but I didn’t. I was scared. Just like I was scared when I didn’t help Jesse save Petra and Gabriel.”

     “They don’t blame you at all, you know.”

     “Yeah, I know. But I blame  _ myself.”  _ He scrubs his face with one hand, looking tired. Axel’s debating. He knows he should comfort Lukas, but he’s not really sure how. He’s also not sure if he wants to quite yet. But he looks so defeated. Axel can’t just sit there and let him be miserable. He’s not  _ that  _ much of a dick.

     “Look, Lukas,” Axel says, looking at the fire rather than the person he’s talking to, “you’re a lot of things, but you’re not a bad guy. And yeah, you ran away or froze up a couple times, but I don’t think you’ll do it again. Even if you do, it doesn’t mean you don’t care. You do care. A lot. I can tell.”

     “Thanks,” Lukas says. Axel finally looks at him and immediately regrets it. He has absolutely no reason to look as nice as he does right now with his big blue eyes and soft smile. “Is this your version of an apology?”

     “I’m—well—I’m trying dude, what do you want from me?” Axel fumbles for words just like he had earlier. What  _ is  _ it about this guy? Lukas laughs to himself, breathy and quiet and soft, and Axel gets even more frustrated. Frustration? That’s why his heart’s racing right now, isn’t it?

     “This is perfectly fine,” Lukas says. “You know, you’re a pretty nice guy when you’re not yelling at me.”

     “Uh—thanks?” Axel’s reply comes out as a question for some reason. Somewhere in his mind he realizes this is the longest amount of time he’s spent talking to Lukas. Or alone with Lukas. Up until today he’s really only seen him when he hung out with Petra and at EnderCon. And he’s definitely never been alone with Lukas before.

     In the dark.

     In the rain.

     In a tiny hut in the middle of nowhere.

     He has no idea why that makes him so…nervous?

     “You know,” Lukas muses, “I’m glad you were the one who came to find me.”

     “Why’s that?”

     Lukas shrugs. “Feels more genuine, I guess. I mean, I know Jesse and Olivia made you come, but I also know you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t really want to be. So it’s nice to know you care, even if it’s just a little.”

     Axel has no idea what to say to that. He crosses his arms and looks away, feeling his face burning a little. Hearing that Lukas was able to figure out what he’s been feeling even without telling it to anyone, least of all him, makes him feel vulnerable. Which he hates. He’s finding that he hates it even more when Lukas is the cause.

     “You don’t know me,” Axel grumbles, the irritation in his words half-hearted. Lukas doesn’t retort, so Axel looks up. Lukas is giving him a disbelieving half-smile and shaking his head.

     “You’re insufferable,” he says. Then he does something that Axel certainly isn’t expecting: he grabs him by the shoulders, pulls him down to his level, and kisses him.

     Axel’s eyes widen. His heart threatens to pound right out of his chest. This isn’t his first kiss, but it’s his first one that makes him unable to form any coherent thought that isn’t  _ holy shit, Lukas is kissing me.  _ Lukas pulls away after Axel doesn’t respond, completely red in the face and looking mortified.

     “U-uh—” he stutters as Axel stares at him, still dumbfounded. “Uh, sorry, I just—um—well, that didn’t exactly go the way I thought it would in my—”

     Axel doesn’t let him finish. He kisses him again, one hand on the back of his neck. Lukas makes a startled noise in the back of his throat that turns into a hum. It vibrates into Axel’s mouth and throughout his whole body, and he holds him closer. Lukas’ long eyelashes are brushing his cheeks, and his still burning hands haven’t moved from Axel’s shoulders. Axel slides his hand up the back of Lukas’ neck and into his hair, and Lukas shivers against him. Axel swallows down a groan and pulls away, red-faced and panting.

     “That, uh. That was unexpected. But not unwelcome,” he says. He and Lukas are only a few inches apart. He can see his light eyelashes and a few freckles on his nose.

     “You’re—you’re really good at that,” Lukas says.

     “You think so?” Axel teases, smirking and grabbing Lukas’ chin. It has the effect he hoped it would; Lukas’ already pink cheeks go completely red, and he looks away, flustered.

     “Well, yeah,” he says. “I uh, I guess I’m not  _ entirely  _ sure, since, you know, we only did it the one time?”

     “Mhm,” Axel hums, his smirk widening as he leans in even closer. “Wanna try again so you can be sure this time?” Lukas nods, and their lips meet for the third time.

     There’s still salt on Lukas’ lips from their dinner earlier. It’s oddly intoxicating. Just like Lukas himself. He’s infuriating sometimes, but right now, Axel can’t get enough of him. Lukas seems to be having the same feelings about him—his slender, lightly calloused hands are slowly roaming Axel’s torso, reminding him that he’s not wearing a shirt. 

     Lukas lets out a soft little gasp when Axel’s teeth find his bottom lip, and Axel growls and shoves his tongue in his mouth. Lukas full-on  _ groans  _ and reciprocates. Axel’s fingers find their way into his hair again. He twists the soft blonde locks around his fingers and tugs. Lukas’ fingernails dig in to his back, causing Axel to let out a pleased hum. He’s fully aware that he could turn Lukas into a panting mess if he wanted to, and the thought of seeing someone normally so well put-together a complete wreck makes his insides twist pleasantly.

     Lukas is the one to break the kiss this time. His pupils are blown wide, his eyes half-lidded and glazed over, his lips parted as he breathes heavily. Axel swallows thickly.

     “Fuck,” Lukas breathes.

     “Yeah,” Axel says. He brushes a stray hair out of Lukas’ face. “You’re pretty cute when you’re not running your mouth, you know.”

     “Is there something you’d rather see me use my mouth for?”

     Axel’s not expecting that. He hopes Lukas can’t tell his cheeks are burning. “Maybe.”

     “Maybe you can tell me what that is later.”

     “I think you know.”

     “Maybe I just want to hear you say it.”

     “If you think you’re gonna get me to beg, you’ve got another thing coming,” Axel says. 

     “We’ll see about that,” Lukas says with a grin.

     Axel rolls his eyes, but the smile stays on his face. A contented silence falls over the two of them, so much different than the ones earlier in the night. They don’t say much for the rest of the night, just watching the fire and listening to the sounds of the night outside. Lukas is starting to nod off, leaning against Axel’s side. Axel lets him. It’s been a strange night, and he’s not sure what any of this is going to mean later, if anything, but that’s alright with him. For now he’s content with being here until morning.

     In the dark.

     In the rain.

     With someone he might be starting to care about.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! (And maybe keep an eye out for more of this pairing ;3c)


End file.
